1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an signet, and more particularly to an ink-replenishable signet which has an even and stable ink output.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional signet is generally designed with a grip portion and a stamp block. When in use, it is necessary for the signet to be constantly re-inked by means of a separate ink pad. Later, signets with ink reservoirs were developed. A typical example of this signet is shown in FIG. 7. The signet includes a body 80, a grip portion 81 mounted on the body 80, a reciprocal shield 83 movably mounted to a lower portion of the body 80, and a housing 82 mounted around the body 80. The body 80 has an ink reservoir 801 and a stamp block 802 formed at a bottom end thereof. A cover 84 can be used for protecting the stamp block when the signet is not in use. To stamp a document, the grip portion 81 is pressed down whereby the reciprocal shield 83 moves relatively upward to enable the stamp block 802 to be in contact with the document. After usage, by releasing the grip portion 81, the reciprocal shield 83 will return to conceal the ink reservoir 801 and the stamp block 802. Though this kind of signet does not need a separate pad, it has a disadvantage in that the signet has to be discarded eventually because it can not be utilized any more after the ink reservoir 801 is depleted.
To overcome the above drawbacks, a kind of ink-replenishable signet was developed, which has a structure as shown in FIG. 8. The ink-replenishable signet includes a base 90 receiving a pedestal 91. The pedestal 91 has a tubular post 92 extending upward from a center thereof and a stop 921 is received in a top end of the post 92. A reed 94 is secured on the tubular post 92 by a clip 95 and is located via a plurality of columns 93 extending from the pedestal 91. A grip portion 96 is mounted on the base 90 and engaged with the top end of the tubular post 92 of the pedestal 91. The base 90 further has an ink reservoir 911 and a stamp block 912 received in the pedestal 91 and a cover 97 mounted to a bottom of the base 90 for sealing the stamp block 912. When the signet is to be used, the cover 97 can be removed. By pressing down the grip portion 96, the base 90 will relatively move upward to enable the stamp block 912 to be contact with a document. After usage, by releasing the grip portion 96, the reciprocal shield 90 will return to conceal the ink reservoir 801 and the stamp block 802 by means of an elastic force from the reed 94. When the ink reservoir 911 is depleted, the stop 921 is removed and fresh ink can be deposited through the tubular post 92 into the ink reservoir 911. Though this kind of signet can avoid problem of waste, it has a disadvantage in that the reed 94 may cause the force applying to the signet to become unevenly distributed during operation of the signet, therefore causing the seal on the document to be vague. A second shortcoming of this signet is that the fresh ink may not be spreaded uniformly throughout the ink reservoir 911. Another disadvantage of the signet is that an ink output may be excessive when a large pressure applied onto the grip portion 96, because the projection of the stamp block 912 is not restricted.
The present invention provides an improved ink-replenishable signet to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.